Cairns 70.3 From This Girl’s Eyes.
First, thank you to Rotor Cranks!! I have some huge bike
gains from the past few years to attribute to my awesome 155 cranks and my Q
rings!!! More to come on this sweet note!!
Thank you to the University of Melbourne, as well!! Their
support is much appreciated—and for a fabulous environment in training and
racing—I look forward to racing for the bike team and more!!
Well, here it goes... becoming more vocal on the web. I highly recommend reading a book over my blog. But if you so desire... here are my thoughts... But I must say, if I am to support social media.. I don't believe in being self absorbed. I believe we all have amazing gifts to give the world-- but we cannot forget our place in the world either. We are part of this massive system-- and we all have a responsibility to do the best we can to take care of our little corner of the world.
Cairns 70.3
Swim – a bit choppy in my opinion. Took the pro ladies a
while to drop me, which was exciting because IM Melbourne, they dropped me
straight away. Hey, it’s the little wins, right? A PB too!
** on that note, BECAUSE I do NOT respect honesty, I want to
tell those who care that Kira did not catch me during the swim. Of course, she is a fab swimmer and was close
on my heels- so no need for her to make any comments like that. 2 Male Age
Groupers did catch me- pretty normal at the moment! For me, 32 something is a good swim, at
the moment, my last half ironman swim was 37 minutes. Am I embarrassed to admit
this? Heck no. I’m pretty proud of that improvement. On that note, IM WA 2012
swam 1:15. IM WA 2013 swam 1:04. That’s hard work baby, no one can make me
apologize for not swimming as fast as the top women * YET. * And honestly,
swimming is frustrating for those of us not born in the water. BUT that makes
it all the more special when it all works out!!
Bike – disappointing for me, not because the time was bad!
But because I have been losing momentum in regards to improvement on the
bike. That’s okay! It was still a PB!
And this course was awesome because for us slower swimmer pro ladies we
were NOT engulfed by the super fast age groupers out there—we were able to have
a very CLEAN ride- meaning NO DRAFTING. We are watched so closely, that
everyone out there should know (and it is always all over the forums)—people DO
NOT get away with drafting during races. It is not right to be dishonest about
these things. It is a KNOWN fact that for us * slower swimmer pro ladies * that
we always have difficulty with congestion for * LONGER *- especially during
full Ironmans. BUT that’s just part of it. I’ve heard a lot about bike forums
bashing pro women in the past for drafting, but let’s all take a step back and
remember the last time you were in an Ironman and you had no where to go
because the course was that packed—or just google certain race pictures—there
are SOME races (and Cairns 70.3 was NOT one of them- for us pro ladies anyway-
Cairns Ironman I heard was like this from my hubby)—where it is very hard to
stay away from everyone for the full race. And it’s honestly horribly
frustrating when you can’t get out of the pack and everywhere you look there is
a cyclist. You guys know what I am talking about! J
Run – Pretty happy. Rookie mistake. Forgot to put my watch
on my wrist in transition. But that’s okay I still went out hard as I felt
really good. Pretty happy with my run. Have to work on settling down in the
beginning- but part of that was not knowing what pace I was running at first. I
LOVE running and am so excited to continue to run and seek improvements. It’s
such an endorphin rush, it’s always a joy to train in this sport… the other two
as well.. but this is my favorite!!
Now on some other notes…. Those of us, most of us, who
juggle racing and jobs/ study. It’s hard work! There are so many fabulous
books and articles written out there about how to find balance that I peruse continually-- not all about triathlon too ;). I always work really hard
to prioritize properly. At the moment it is 1) FAMILY 2) Vet school 3)
Triathlon. Triathlon does get pushed up the priority list when I’m 1) on break
from university 2) because my husband trains with me sometimes it is easy to push it up there. Plus, working out is just a part of my daily routine-- has been since 2003-- and before that I was a soccer player... so only what the coach made me do :).
More notes to come! I will be more vocal as I believe in
HARD WORK paying off and I do have some messages to spread about the things
I’ve learned in my life from the ARMY—TEAMWORK—DEDICATION—DISCIPLINE. From
being an international lady where home is wherever I am…. So I’ll be in Perth
next week with my awesome hubby and step kids and friends and coach = home. I usually live with my doggies and some absolutely amazing new friends in
Melbourne = home. My heart is in Colorado with my lovely friends who just "get" me and those
amazing mountains = home. My lovely parents are in New Mexico and I was born
there = home. My sis and her fam are in California = Home. Some of my favorite
people in the world are in Virginia, Texas, Washington state, Washington D.C.,
California, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Canada, New Jersey, New York, New Zealand, Afghanistan, UAE, Tennessee, Kentucky, East Timor, Massachusetts, etc. etc. (I have been a nomad with the military due to myself or my Father my entire life) = HOME.
So I will start to take the time to make sure I note what
it’s like on this journey of improvement with huge priorities weighing against
each other. Things that I’m ridiculously passionate about. And guess what? We
are all on this journey and I want to hear about your journeys too.
Final note: In competitive sport it is difficult to stay
positively competitive. It is one of my major goals and always has been to find
a way to balance the competition with a happy heart—and be sincerely, deep down
happy for my competitors when they have fabulous performances. In the last 1.5 years, due to my new found focus and goals, I have started to see so many fabulous performances—more than ever before—and I am always inspired and deeply
CHALLENGED by what I see around me everyday.
